[Kim Jaeho's Life Story]<226> The First Health Button Fastened Wrongly

Health is not the goal of life, but since everyone wants to live healthily, it is one of the most important factors for all people. Along with the development of various fields such as the economy, society, and culture, many indicators related to our health have also improved. The physique of our young people has noticeably improved, and our life expectancy has risen from 61.9 years in 1970 to 83.3 years in 2019, reaching nearly the highest level in the world.

Can we confidently say that we are living healthily by looking at these positive phenomena? Unfortunately, if we look a little deeper, we can easily find disappointing aspects. Healthy life expectancy was only 64.4 years in 2018, meaning there is a period of 19 years during which people cannot perform normal activities due to illness or injury. The prevalence of dementia among those aged 65 and older is as high as 9.8%, and especially among those aged 85 and older, it reaches 34.7%, according to some studies.

There are also quite a few premature deaths. In 2020, the death rate before age 50 was 8.1% for men and 5.3% for women; before age 60, it was 19.7% and 10.4%, respectively; and before age 70, it was 37.8% and 18.5%, showing that many people die early. The leading cause of death for people in their teens, twenties, and thirties is suicide, followed by cancer. For those in their forties and fifties, cancer is the leading cause, followed by suicide, indicating that mental health is also at a serious level.

The number of suicide deaths is around 13,000 to 14,000 annually, accounting for 4.4% to 5% of all deaths, or about one in every 20 deaths. The suicide death rate per 100,000 people was 24.7 in 2018, more than double the OECD average of 11.5, ranking first among OECD countries. The proportion of people who subjectively rate their health as ‘good’ is over 60% in most developed countries, but in Korea, it is below 40%, the lowest among OECD countries.

We have the world’s most excellent health insurance system, and hospitals, doctors, and health checkups are maintained at nearly the highest global standards, so why can’t we solve these problems decisively?

There is a very important fact that we tend to neglect in living a healthy life. People generally live their own way and expect to visit a hospital to solve problems when they get sick. If the hospital treats and cures well, it is a very convenient method, but this approach often does not work well. Unfortunately, modern medicine focuses more on alleviating symptoms than on solving the causes of diseases.

Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, once said, “There is a doctor inside every person’s body. This doctor has the greatest ability to cure diseases. We must help this doctor work well and at least not interfere.” With the advancement of science, it has been confirmed that this ‘greatest doctor’ exists in the form of genes inside every cell of every person.

Fortunately, we always live with the help of the greatest doctor prepared inside our bodies. Most wounds that occur frequently heal perfectly over time if left alone. Fatigue that comes after intense exercise or hard labor disappears over time, and bacteria and harmful substances that enter the body when eating or breathing are all thoroughly removed.

Every day, hundreds to thousands of cancer cells are produced, but far more people do not get cancer than those who do. It is known that hundreds of thousands of DNA among the 6 billion DNA molecules that make up cells are damaged daily, but most are repaired to their original state over time.

If we create a good environment for the doctor inside the body, as Hippocrates said, most diseases can be prevented. When this greatest doctor cannot work properly due to bad lifestyle habits and a disease occurs, improving the environment so that the doctor inside the body can work again will cure the disease. This is natural healing.

The secret to health is to always remember the greatest doctor prepared inside your body and live a lifestyle that creates an environment where this doctor can work well. We need to reduce the lifestyle of damaging our bodies while living the life we like and rushing to hospitals, and increase the lifestyle that our body likes to create an environment where the greatest doctor inside our body can work well. This is the Newstart, which means re-buttoning the first health button that was put on incorrectly.

The eight letters of NEW START are the first letters of eight English words: N stands for Nutrition, E for Exercise, W for Water, S for Sunlight, T for Temperance, A for Air, R for Rest, and the last T for Trust. Adding love to these is the core of Newstart.

Kim Jae-ho, Independent Researcher